Hero's Farewell
by Lonely God
Summary: Just a little short for the House of Hades, when they close the Doors of Death. Leo's PoV! Have fun! - belongs to Rick Riordan!


**For once I'm writing a PG story =0! I know, not very long or anything, but I was a little bored, and a picture kept coming up on Facebook with Percy being left behind, which I, as a Percabeth shipper, argue with. So this is a random short – and just so you know, if Rick ends HoH like this, I will kill him – ENJOY! **

We approached the House of Hades from the air. The Argo II groaning as I guided it to the ground, setting the ship on the ground in front of a large hoard of monsters in front of us. We had already been attacked more times than any of us could count while in the air, and with Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus, we didn't consider it worth the risk of going over the sea. I looked around at our army; one psychotic satyr, a son of Jupiter, a daughter of Aphrodite, a son of Mars, a son of Hades and daughter of Pluto, and me, son of Hephaestus. All of us, except for Coach Hedge where all beaten down pretty badly, and we didn't even know if Percy and Annabeth were on the other side of the Doors of Death yet. We didn't even know if they were still alive. Nonetheless, we had a job to do. I manned the ballista and started unleashing hell on the monsters ahead of us, Jason began shooting lightning from his sword – with Piper standing next to him with her dagger to make sure nothing came too close – Nico summoned a few skeletons to charge, while Hazel, Frank and Hedge went to stand on the frontline. It was a pretty straightforward battle, kill anything that moved that wasn't demigod or satyr, but there were just so many. It seemed that whatever any of us killed was just replaced. And we knew there was a line of monsters still coming through. Fire and reload. Fire and reload. It just became motions as I sent bolt after bolt at monsters.

"LEO!" I heard from Piper. I looked in her direction, and she was pointing up above me. I looked up and saw a gorgon flying up, too high for my ballista to hit. I jumped off from the platform and pulled a pair of large hammers from my tool belt. Not much, but it would have to do. The gorgon landed in front of me, for some reason wearing a flowery dress and a Bargain Mart apron. I didn't have time to read the name badge, and lunged at her, swinging hard. She jumped out of the way and brought her arm across, slashing along it with her claws. I grunted, and was about to swing again when a silver arrow suddenly appeared in the gorgons chest. I looked in the direction it had come from and saw a small group of young girls, all wearing camo and carrying silver bows, leading dozens of silver wolves. The Hunters of Artemis. But I didn't have time to stand and stare, I jumped up onto the ballista platform again.

The arrival of the Hunters gave us a respite. They gave us all some water as we filled them in. When we told them about Percy and Annabeth, Thalia's eyes grew watery. Then she brushed the tears away and let us continue. There were no words when our discussion was finished. We simply got up and resumed the attack. After what felt like years, long after I had run out of bolts and joined the fight with hammers, we made it inside. We were all injured – the Hunters had given us bandages while we talked, but we had gotten more wounds. But now we were clear. The House of Hades wasn't much of a house. More of a massive single hall. Statues of Hades lined the walls, and a long, black carpet led straight up the middle to a pair of the biggest doors ever. The Doors of Death were clear. And open. Standing in the doorway, a pair of teenagers. A black haired boy and a blonde girl.

"Took you long enough." Percy grinned as we ran up. Annabeth, leaning against Percy who was on the side of her ankle which had been broken in Rome, rolled her eyes. We stood in a circle. Myself, Percy, Annabeth (still leaning on her boyfriend), Jason, Piper, Thalia, Frank, Hazel, Nico and Hedge.  
Nico spoke up. "Well, this is it. You all know it right?"  
"Yeah," Jason said. "One of us has to close it from the other side."  
I spoke up. "And whoever it is, isn't coming back." I didn't really feel like jokes.  
"Look after Annabeth for me." Percy said, turning to face the doors.  
"Oh, no you don't!" Annabeth cried. "I'll stay."  
Suddenly the room was filled with noise as everyone but me started offering themselves. And Nico. He just stayed silent. I met his eyes through the crowd, and we both nodded. I started moving towards the doors. On the Tartarus side, things looked pretty bleak. But it was something I had to do. I was almost on the other side when they noticed me.  
"LEO VALDEZ! WHAT THE HADES ARE YOU DOING?!" It had been Piper who spoke up.  
"You all have someone to be with. Hazel, remember what Nemesis said? That there would be a price to pay for opening that cookie? And that I would be the seventh wheel forever?"  
Hazel nodded, her eyes brimming with tears.  
"Frank? Look after her. I know you always thought I was trying to win Hazel over, but that was never the case. And when you all see Reyna, tell her that the debt for blowing her camp up has been payed."

With that, I turned and started to close the Doors of Death from the Tartarus side. Nico walked up and started closing them from the side of the living. As the gap between the doors grew smaller, I heard Thalia shout out. "Hail! Leo Valdez! Hero of Olympus!" The Hunters cheered out as well. But those who had flown with us on the Argo II stood silent. And then the doors shut.

**FINISHED! So what do you think? And I hope that Leo doesn't stay behind. Personally, I want Nico to stay behind, and for Hades to do something useful for once and rescue his son, but I don't trust Rick Riordan. Anyway, R&R!**


End file.
